Home decor super store moves into Broomfield

Garden Ridge opens in former Target site on Midway

FIRST-DAY SHOPPER: Jamie Williams shops for umbrellas for a friend Thursday at the Garden Ridge. The store opened Thursday in the former Target site on Midway Boulevard. (David R Jennings / Broomfield Enterprise)

After sitting conspicuously empty for more than 21 months, the large retail location at the corner of U.S. 287 and Midway Boulevard, in the heart of Broomfield, last week welcomed a new tenant.

Home decor and crafting super store Garden Ridge quietly opened on Thursday, bringing more than 100,000 square feet of decorative merchandise to the building at 1660 W. Midway Blvd., which from 1995 to January 2012 was home to Target.

The Broomfield store is the Texas-based chain's 64th and first in Colorado. A Colorado Springs location, store No. 65, is coming soon, according to Garden Ridge officials.

"We've never been into Colorado before," Garden Ridge district manager Ted Minkevich said last week. "We're incredibly interested in coming to this market."

Minkevich said that in the ramp-up to opening, the store was attracting a lot of interest from consumers eager to see what was taking the spot of the prominently placed former Target.

"It's a good thing," he said. "Everyone was very curious when we were going to open and just find out what it is."

Garden Ridge is still making plans for a grand opening date that may be accompanied by sales, Minkevich said.

The store, which according to company officials will feature more than 500,000 home decor items, is expected to employ around 20 people.

Anne Lane, an economic development specialist with Broomfield, said Garden Ridge is a great fit for the centrally located site.

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"What's nice about it is it fills the entire former Target," Lane said. "And it fills the need for specialty retail that our Broomfield residents are looking for, a unique retailer that is in Broomfield that maybe you can't get somewhere else."

The hope is that by being the only Garden Ridge in the north-metro area, the location might draw shoppers from outside the city as well, Lane said.

The Target closure came shortly after the 155,000-square-foot Great Indoors store in the Broomfield's FlatIron Marketplace closed and just a few months before the Kmart that long occupied the space at 5005 W. 120th Ave. shut its doors, magnifying concerns about the city's retail climate.

Deputy City and County Manager Kevin Standbridge said Garden Ridge's opening improves that climate in the immediate area and in Broomfield as a whole.

"I think personally the most important thing is the residents in the area and the other business people have an active, productive building ... and it's bringing people in that will hopefully patronize other businesses," Standbridge said. "And for the larger community, driving in and seeing an active and robust use is really positive. We're just thrilled."

Broomfield's commercial vacancy rate fell from 13 percent to 10 percent between the second and third financial quarter this year, according to Lane. She said economic development officials are still looking for a tenant to fill the former Kmart.

"... Broomfield is unaware of any immediate plans for a new retailer to fill the former Kmart store on 120th," Lane said in an email. "We continue to seek retailers to activate vacant spaces and bring those brands who are new to the market to create a diverse shopping experience for residents and visitors of Broomfield."

In efforts to drive down vacancy rates and boost new development City Council on Tuesday voted to create a new urban renewal area that covers a sizeable portion of the city, including the lot that Garden Ridge now calls home.

The measure discontinued two existing urban renewal areas and created a new, single area with expanded borders. The area now stretches from 120th Avenue just east of Garden Ridge westward to include the Garden Center area, properties along Industrial Lane, where it runs parallel to U.S. 36, and a group of shopping centers on the south side of the highway, including FlatIron Marketplace.

The urban renewal area will provide tax increment financing for developments within its borders, using expected future gains in tax revenue to pay off debt incurred making improvements in the area. The biggest improvement the city is planning for the area is a pedestrian and bike connection — and eventually a roadway connection — linking Midway Boulevard on the north side of the train tracks the run through the area to Industrial Lane on the south, Standbridge said.

A majority of the 35-acre FlatIron Marketplace shopping center, which, in addition to losing the Great Indoors, also saw retailers such as Nordstrom Rack leave in recent years, was sold in August to Provident Realty Advisors, Inc. The Great Indoors building is owned by Sears Holding Corp. and was not purchased by Provident.

While the new owner's plans for the struggling center are not yet known, city officials are hopeful they will bring new life to the center located among many new multi-family housing developments along U.S. 36.

"They're really assessing the situation and further evaluating the market," Standbridge said. "We're scheduled to sit down with them in the next few weeks. We're looking forward to it."

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